


I might have a gaint gay crush on my saviour

by FandomTrashcan



Series: How NedCan was born [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: BeNeLux siblings, FACE Family, Family Dinners, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-07 23:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12852015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomTrashcan/pseuds/FandomTrashcan
Summary: When Matthew went to help a starving country, he didn't think he would find a friend.When Maarten was stuck in the basement, trapped by German troops, he didn't think he would fall this hard for the person who saved him.When Belgium met Matthew, she didn't think she would get to play matchmaker.OR how NEDCAN was born.





	1. There's a man in the basement

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fanfic, so go easy on me. Please.
> 
> Human names I use:  
> The Neherlands- Maarten  
> Canada- Matthew (Matthieu is what France uses)  
> Belgium- Anouk  
> America- Alfred  
> France- Francis  
> England- Arthur  
> Luxemburg- Louis
> 
> Have fun reading.

The fighting had been exhausting. For days upon days, slowly gaining ground. Matthew was so tired, but giving up was never an option. When he got a message from Arthur about the oncoming war, he immediately jumped in to help. And that’s how he got here, in a country he didn’t even know, like at all. 

He never met the personification of the Netherlands, But Francis told him that the Netherlands was… weird. Arthur told him the very first settlers in the Netherlands lived on hills, because it wasn’t a country, just the sea at very, very low tide. Which is special in it’s own way. And apparently the hills were made out of their own shit. Which is… just weird, okay. Alfred, Matthew’s brother, did meet the Netherlands personally. Alfred told him about the “argument” Arthur and the Netherlands had about New york, back then New Amsterdam. Alfred told him that they hit each other with teacups, before it escalated. 

Well, none of that really matters now. From what Matthew heard, the Netherlands wanted to be neutral during the war, like last time. Germany didn’t care this time, taking over the country in three days. With that Germany officially committed a war crime, like starting a world war wasn’t enough already.  
Together with the other allies they tried to take back Europe. But while the rest went straight for Germany, Matthew heard rumours about a country and it’s people starving to death. Together with his comrades, he went to free them. 

The Netherlands’ sister, Belgium, seemed so happy that they arrived. She looked at them with sad eyes. At the time he didn’t know why, but that changed once they arrived at the front.

What they found was devastating. Everyone across the river was dying. The German troops would only accept food that was brought by air drops. Matthew would bet all the maple syrup in the world on the fact that the food was not enough. The people needed more supplies than the ones they dropped.

They gained some ground. The German soldiers put up a fight, before surrendering. There was a house on the property. One of his soldiers asked, “should we look around for useful stuff?” Matthew doubted they would find anything. ”yea, gather food, medical supplies and anything else that looks useful. It’s getting dark, so we can determine what we take with us later. Set up camp.” Matthew walked towards the house. Might as well investigate, right? Maybe he’ll find a cat. Cats are nice. 

He didn’t find a cat.

He found a man tied up in a basement.

Oh.... 

Matthew rushed to the man. He was semiconscious, and way too thin.

Matthew untied the ropes. He was obviously not okay, so different question. “What is your name?”  
The man glanced at him. He looked truly miserable. “Maarten”. A Dutch name, right? Matthew lifted Maarten up. “Well, nice to meet you. I’m Matthew. Can you walk?  
Maarten tried to stand on his own, but stumbled. “I don’t think I’ll make the stairs, let alone get up the thing.”  
Matthew went to Maartens side, mainly to make sure his face didn’t meet dear mister floor. 

They slowly made their way up the stairs. Matthew couldn’t help but notice some very concerning things.

\- Maarten was really thin, as in extremely underweight  
\- Maarten was struggling to stand and walk, even with his help  
\- Did he mention Maarten was underweight  
\- He winced when breathing in  
\- He had nice hair, but that wasn’t that important because  
\- he was so underweight he should be dead

Getting up the stairs was a struggle. Matthew had trouble keeping them balanced and Maarten had trouble walking at all. He wasn’t completely sure, but some of Maarten’s ribs seemed bruised. Once on top the stairs he called a medic, or the guy functioning as one. Some other guys came to see what the fuss was about. Maarten turned to him. “thanks for getting me out of the basement of horrors.” Matthew smiled at him.”of course, no problem.”

Leaving Maarten with the medic for a while, Matthew went to check on the troops. The guys were pretty depressed. They were making slow progress and it was freezing. Winter was hitting hard. You would think they would be handling it better, as some winters in canada were way worse. It just didn’t help with all the other stuff going on. At least they had food. Speaking of food, He should bring some to Maarten. God knows he needs it. 

“Oh hey.” Maarten was up and about. Why. “So, how are you doing, cause you should be on death's doorstep”.  
Maarten smiled. “I don’t die easily. Is that food for me?”  
“Yea….?”  
Did he just frown? At food? “Are you okay?”  
Maarten took the bowl of soup.”No, everyone’s starving and i’m eating. This doesn’t feel right.” Now that’s sad. No one should feel sad for surviving. “If you eat and recover, you can bring the food to them. That seems better than starving because ’It doesn’t feel right’. By the way, do you have family somewhere?”  
Maarten finally looked at him again. Why is he making that face? ”Well, no family, but everyone on the other side of the river. You’re Canada, I saw you once. I’m the Netherlands and i’m pissed at Germany. So now introductions are over, do you have any plans?” Matthew was only slightly shocked. That’s a lie, he was very shocked. “Hold on, what?”  
“Uhm, the royal family you’re sheltering. They are Dutch. A Dutch flag was flown in. How do you not know this?”  
“They live here? You’re THAT guy?”  
“Yes.”

“Oh. Alright then.” Matthew could see some comparison in behaviour. The Queen and her country were both to the point. And apparently stubborn, because now the medic is scolding Maarten for sitting up and not eating. Both looked displeased with the other. It was an amusing sight.  
It was late though. Matthew had to leave and rest at least one hour tonight. He walked to the door. Maarten noticed him trying to leave.  
“Will you be back in the morning?” Maarten didn’t look upset at him leaving without saying anything. Well this was new, normally no one notice him at all.  
“Yea, I will.”


	2. Two player game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeay, Another chapter. I have to story done and completed, but i'm proofreading and editting befor I post more. 
> 
> We are getting more into the chararcters here. 
> 
> Happy reading

A new day arrives. Which was only three hours later, but you get the point. Matthew instructed the troops to pack up and get ready to move. It was still dark, that might work to their advantage. He should probably check on Maarten. He could barely walk yesterday, but considering they are countries, he would be walking around in no time. The downside is, Maartens people are starving. Which means Maarten will also be hungry and Matthew couldn’t help him. He promised he’d check on him though. 

Making his way to the medic, he grabbed breakfast on the way there. Again, it was some kind of stew.One he got to the tent he could see Maarten was walking around, as he expected. He was talking to the other soldiers, exchanging information. They seemed to like Maarten. It was nice to see people getting along in times like this.

“Hello, you seem to be doing better” Maarten turned to him. “I’m only slightly starving.” He looked dead serious as he said that.   
“you’re kidding right, if you were human you would be dead.” This guy…

“I was being sarcastic, I feel quite terrible to be honest. But I want to help. Your people are dying for mine. It seems unfair if I didn’t help.” Matthew suspected this guy had pride issues. But then again, they were countries. Pride was kind of their thing. They could take out armies on their best days, but if it was country against country, things get complicated.  
“Do you think you’re up for fighting? Can you even fire a gun without putting the bullet into orbit?” Matthew smirked. This was bound to annoy Maarten.  
“You are terrible. I stole the spice trade once. We hold out against germany for three days with sticks against guns. I think aiming is not my biggest problem.” Maarten looked angry. Sticks against guns? What spice trade? “Well let’s get moving then. We’re wasting dawnlight.” Questions can wait until later.  
“Alright then, you mean… person.”  
“Is that the best you can do.”  
“No, but the Dutch insults are too offensive.” Matthew gave him a confused look. Well, they will be traveling and fighting together. He can ask about it later. “Let’s go.”

They were slowly marching towards the river. That would be where the fighting started. Matthew lost track of Maarten a while ago, but the guy could fend for himself. He really should stop referring to Maarten as ‘that guy’ in his head. The progress was so slow. They were trying to get to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. Apparently the starvation problems were the worst over there. They tried to do everything they could.

The last few days had been pretty terrible, because war. That’s the sad thing, everyone hates everyone. And the fact that the whole world was involved didn’t help.

Matthew got a letter from his brother on their progress. The allies were making their way to Berlin, the capital of Germany, in hopes of stopping the war. Winter just, wasn’t helping. It was cold, no food was produced on farms, The snow obstructed the view and it was fucking cold. They had pull three cars out of the snow. This was nothing new, but if you are in a hurry it gets tedious. “Are you fucking kidding me.” Another fucking car got stuck. Matthew was angry. Stupid snow. Thankfully it was time to stop for the day. 

“So, I heard you single handedly pulled some cars out of the snow. I’m impressed.” And now Maarten was sassing him. Great. “Well, I have to use my strength for something. It’s just annoying to do.”

“I see. I’m just glad it’s time to rest. And that I could drive on one of the trucks.” They were walking to a more isolated place. Matthew worked on starting a fire. “I have to say, for a dude who was tied up for who knows how long in a basement, you are doing really well.”  
“Hm. To be honest, that wasn’t the worst situation i’ve ever been in.” And now Matthew is curious. What is worse than being locked up, starving, in a basement, with an enemy who wants you dead. “explain. What is worse. Humor me.”  
“Alright, let’s see. There is the obvious problem of my country being below sea level.”  
“It’s going to bite you in the ass one day.” Maarten looked annoyed.   
“I just exist here, okay. It’s not like I was like: Oh, see that piece of land over there. That’s not good enough. Let’s get even closer to the sea. No let’s go into the sea. Yea, that seems great.” That rant was pure gold. Matthew was laughing so hard now.

“I know, I know. I’m just poking fun at you.”  
“paasei. (easter egg) Well anyway, I was in a war with Spain. He was kind of for me being Catholic and I was just not. And my people were even more rebellious. So what they did was smashing all the holy statues in the churches. Spain got really mad and threatened to kill me and all my hopes and dreams. Which he kind of did, but i’d rather not go there. I was in one of the city’s that was still in resistance and we were surrounded. Our plan was to lure the Spanish army in and kill them all with the best weapon at our disposal.”

Matthew was a little confused.”i fail to see how this turned into the worst day of your life.”  
“I’m getting to that. The bad thing was that I was the bait.”  
“Oh.”  
“Yes, that was great, amazing and fantastic. I saw Spain and his army coming up to me. We were in a clearing. And as soon as the army came into the clearing, My people opened the floodgates and drowned most of Spain’s army. This was bad for me because I was stuck in the stream as well. And I know we breath less than normal humans, but my lungs hurt. And I got hypothermia, bedridden for nine days. That was the worst situation i’ve been in.”   
Matthew had to take a while to progress this. The way Maarten told the story sounded careless. But the situation itself sounded terrible. And the way he said Spain… It’s obvious it did something to him. Matthew hadn’t been around for long, compared to some countries, but he knew about betrayal.   
“That sound very unpleasant, but how is that worse that starving for a year?” Maarten turned to him, looking more serious.  
“Do you know what drowning feels like. It hurts and doesn’t stop. Hunger hurts, but you stop noticing. It’s not about the length of the pain, but how you perceive that pain. The thing is I saw Ludwig (germany) at the front. We can’t go against our leaders and our people. He feels at least some regret and while that doesn’t excuse what he did, it’s something. Spain didn’t care. That’s the difference.” Matthew had no words. He just didn’t know how to respond. But now Maarten turned the conversation to him. ”Your turn Matthew. I told you my worst moment and a lot of stuff that came with the drama. What day was your worst day, or just terrible. I get if you don’t want to share something like that.”  
“then why did you”  
“I wanted to” 

Okay, worst day. The very worst day had to be that day.  
“It was not something like your story. It’s pretty petty compared to yours. So, my brother came by one day. We were both colonies of England at that point, but America wanted to be independent. He came by to tell me his plan and my part in it. he wanted me to claim my independence as well.” Maarten looked slightly amused.  
“I always thought he was too hyperactive and hardheaded.” Maarten looked serious again. “But did he just assume you wanted to leave your parental figure, because that’s kind of a leap.” So someone gets it. That so...nice, for a change.  
“yea, I know right. He had this, THIS contract set up, so I could join him. But I was happy. My people were less happy than me, but they thought it was at least somewhat okay. And just before the war broke out, Arthur came by. He was just crying, don’t tell him I told you. I just felt terrible. And then papa (France) joined in as well. Whatever family and peace we had was just shattered forever. It’s still not alright.” Matthew was on the brink of tears. It’s not like he ever told anyone about this. After the war everyone just argued and he was invisible. He wiped his eyes. Maarten was just staring ahead. He waited patiently for Matthew to recollect himself, which was nice of him.

“I just want this to be normal again and the world to stop being so crazy.”  
“Same here, Peace sounds very nice.”

They sat in silence after that, comfortable in each other's presence. When the rest of the world is at each other’s throats, it’s nice to have an ally who is looking for peace as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's a little more on the angsty side, but then again, It's WWII so yeah. 
> 
> The thing with Spain, The Catolics an Protesants and the smashing of statues is a real event in Dutch history. It's called "the beeldenstorm". Shit got destroyed. I'm trying to put in historical events to built up to 2017/2018. If I make mistakes, please correct me.
> 
> So again, feedback is appriciated. Also if you want to comment, please do.
> 
> More to come


	3. The world turned upside down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thing get a little bit more angsty. Matthew gets sad.

This is how the days continued. Maarten and Matthew were mostly seen together. Of course they left to take care of the troops. Maarten was doing better, which was giving him quite a bit of motivation. Taking down soldiers, but also bandaging up their own troops. He was quite the medic himself. Along the way, Dutch people joined their ranks. Maarten seemed delighted, they were talking in rapid Dutch. Matthew couldn’t understand a word, but Maarten translated for the soldiers who didn’t speak English or French. It was as nice as a war could get. The downside was losing the people you just met. This was difficult for Matthew, because he has yet to get used to it.

But Maarten would say: “If you didn’t care anymore, I would be worried. Don’t blame yourself for wanting others to live. That’s the most human we can get. We will grieve for the fallen when we won.”

But Matthew was no idiot. He could see Maarten, sitting silently during the evening, muttering the names of the fallen. All he could do was sit with Maarten, neither wanted words for comfort. Words were useless in the battlefield. The presence of another though, that was the only thing keeping you sane. The comrades by their side, gun in their hand. So they pushed on. Day after day. The people who they helped. This is why they were here and not fighting in Germany.

Also, learning Dutch was the funniest shit ever. Compared to English it sounded a little harsh. Compared to French it sounded just like an angry old guy swearing. But if you compare it to German it’s soft and nice. It’s a weird language too. Matt learned swearwords left and right, or he thought he did. Apparently the Dutch swear diseases unto their object of hate. And Maarten swears with non swear words. Like when Maarten calls him Paasei, Matt thought he called him an idiot. Nope, he just called him an easter egg. What the fuck. And when he calls the Germans ‘gesmolten kaaskoppen’, he calls them melted cheeseheads. Well then. When he asked Maarten about it his reply was this.   
“It’s not like they know. For all they know i’m calling them horrible things and wishing them the worst death ever. Literally no one outside of my country speaks my language.”  
“But still, what the hell.” It was kind of funny, to be really honest.

More letters arrived, from the allies. They were making their way up to Berlin, making steady progress. Meanwhile Matt and his troops were making their way to Rotterdam. Amsterdam was further north from there. Maarten look happier everyday. “With the progress we’re making, it’s no wonder the german troops are panicking.”  
“I just want to get this over with, There’s no way they're just going to surrender.”  
“Very true.” 

It was time to stop, or stop for their ‘team’. The fighting continued nonstop now. But both matt and Maarten had been fighting for three full days. Even countries had limits, which is why their people were important. Making their way to the resting spot, both tired and done with all the shit. Matt was even stumbling a little bit. Maarten looked concerned. “Are you okay, maybe you should sit down.” Matthew wasn’t fine. So many were dying and that was affecting him. “I just need to rest for a while, i’ll be fine.”  
“just stay here, i’ll get food. And some company?”  
“No, I… just need to think.”  
“Well, I’m going to think next to you. And you can’t stop me.” Maarten was pulling a goofy face, clearly trying to cheer Matt up. Thanks Maarten. Matt smiled at him.”Alright.”

Maarten went of to get their rations. Matt just looked at the sky. He should get some rest, but it was the middle of the day. The sky was more blue than yesterday, which was weird. Nature just goes on, like nothing happens. It was getting closer to spring as well. The temperature was rising, which meant more food in the fields. Oh, Maarten was back.  
“You look philosophical. What’s up?”  
“Just...staring at the sky, wishing for stuff I didn’t know was important. You know, like a shower.” Maarten laughed, or snorted. It was pretty adorable.  
“We all stink. And that cloud looks like a sea turtle.” He pointed at a cloud, but it looked more like a dragon to Matt. Matt pointed to the one next to it. “that one’s a butterfly.”  
Maarten pointed to another one. “That’s a star. And that one’s little itty bitty house. It’s so cute.” To be honest, it was just a square. Now it was Matt’s turn to laugh and Maarten followed. This was nice, this was great.

“Hey, Matt?”  
“Yea?”  
“Can you tell me about your country?” Okay, where should he start? Uhm…  
“Well… It’s cold, so this winter in your country felt like spring. I love skating and there is always a place to skate. Because...you know, cold.”  
“oh, I love skating to. Here we have the elfstedentocht. We skate to elven cities and it’s a race. You should join once.”  
Matt was surprised. “Isn’t that way too long. Anyway, Because it’s cold, nobody bothers to really put effort into gardening. In winter it will freeze over anyway.”  
“Now that’s just depressing, flowers are awesome.” Okay, calm down Maarten. Just flowers.  
“Hm, true. But I, too, have a mostly blank garden. I just don’t have time for digging in the mud for days. I did enough of that in WWI. Can you stop laughing.”   
“It’s just funny, sorry. Maybe, when all this is over, I can come over and plant some flowers.”  
Matt laughed at that. That would be nice. Nobody really visited him, except Arthur. And his brother would bust the door in, every now and then.

They sat in silence after that. The comfortable kind. Eventually Matthew was called over by the general, to discuss strategy. Oh well, at least he was feeling better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. I hope you liked it.
> 
> "De elfstedentocht" is a thing that still happens today in the Netherlands. If the ice was thick enough, an iceskating race is held. This race goes through eleven cities in the northen povince 'Friesland'. The ice is never thick enough, because gobal warming. But back then people from around the country came to join.
> 
> If anyone knows some stuff about Canada, please tell me. Google only gets me so far.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments.


	4. A change of perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day.... Meh, hope you enjoy.  
> It was about time I got to Maarten's view of their story. He is not the stoic guy  
> most people make him out to be. In my mind at least... :)

Holy shit, all that just happened. Matt was back home now, back in Canada. The war was over, it ended, done, finished.

Once the Allies got to Berlin, the war was mostly done. In the Netherlands, Matt and Maarten got to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. At first neither noticed what happened. But people were cheering at them in the most basic english ever. And suddenly Maarten ran ahead screaming something in Dutch. They were at the capital. The German soldiers surrendered and the people were running up to them. After that Matt lost track of Maarten, to busy handing out food and other supplies. 

Afterwards everything was a blur. Celebrations all around. But the war would not let go of them just yet. There was a shooting by some leftover German troops and the women who had a German lover were ridiculed and hurt. Couldn’t people just enjoy their freedom? 

But outside of these incidents, things were fine, great and just...right for once. Him and Maarten were celebrating, which involved getting very drunk. Matt thinks they were dancing at some point and fell, down the sidewalk, or something. Or somewhere else…. ? The hangover was bad. Maarten had it worse though. “My head is killing me”, Maarten said. “this is why I never drink.” The sounded very unbelievable…. Matt heard the rumors.  
“I’m not drinking until the next war.” Matt meant that.  
“I’m going to make sure you never get drunk again, if that’s the case.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Matt’s head hurt too much to think properly  
“Kind of thinking about starting a peace movement. The world will die, if there’s another war.”  
That was probably true. The weapons got deadlier and deadlier and it was bad and deadly.  
Maarten turned to him. ”Once I figure out how and what, will you join me?”  
“Sure. Yes. Of course.” Peace, yes please. 

And then they went their separate ways. Once he was home his brother just hugged him.  
“Why didn’t you stay with us, you idiot.” He was mad, great.  
“People were starving, Al. Someone had to go and free them.” Alfred still looked upset, but that was his problem. So Matt pushed on. “I did what felt right. Can we just watch some shitty movie and ignore all the crappy stuff for a while?”  
“Alright...and i’m glad you’re okay, got that?” Matt nodded and smiled. 

 

__________________________________________(let's get some insights from Maarten)___________________________________________  
Before Matthew found Maarten:

How long had he been stuck here? Everything went to fucking shit and he was slightly delusional because of the hunger. This didn’t feel natural though. No this was way worse, it must have to do with his people. He should be there for them, but… here he was. In a shitty basement, with shitty people. Who were shitty guards. 

Ludwig left a while ago. It was clear that he felt guilty for locking him up. They were both part of Germania once, together with Belgium. His sister… Was she holding out? She was a lot stronger than anyone gave her credit for. But still. Ludwig was an idiot. To think this will go like his boss wants to. It never does, just look at history. But there was no doubt in Maarten’s mind. Once all this was over, Ludwig’s guilt would eat him up alive. If the others didn’t get to him first. 

And now he was stuck with a couple of idiot soldiers, who ‘guarded’ him. They saw no use in feeding him, or giving him water. Combine that with his dying people, he was doing very much not good. All that was left was annoying these soldiers. So he started quoting Shakespeare at them, from the top of his lungs, in Dutch. 

“Rei op Twee huizen die gelijk in aanzien staan  
\- in het mooi Verona, waar dit spelen moet -  
zetten hun oud geschil tot strijd weer aan,  
met burgerhanden rood van burgerbloed.  
Het stel dat uit die beide kampen sproot,  
wier liefde onder slecht gesternte staat,  
begraaft hun ouders' vete met de dood,  
als het zo jammerlijk ten onder gaat.  
De trieste loop van hun gedoemde min,  
het voortslepen van ouderlijke nijd,  
die slechts in hùn eind vond een nieuw begin:  
daaraan wordt hier twee uur toneel gewijd.  
Luister geduldig, en geef ons een kans:  
ons spel geeft wat verkeerd gaat toch nog glans.  
(This is just the very first part of Shakespeare's play: Romeo and Julia.) 

One of the soldiers was very annoyed with him. “Can you shut up. You are in no position to talk to us.” Sure, like they were going to kill him. Can’t go against orders, idiots.  
“Gregorius zei: Nee, we zijn toch geen sullen.  
Sampson zei: We zullen ons zwaard trekken, als we boos zijn.”  
(Just more Shakespeare.)

“I want to strangle this guy.” Oh, one of them was getting angry. Best to stop, then. Annoyance is okay, but once one of them gets angry, he gets punched and that hurts. He had been quoting Shakespeare at them in both Dutch and French for a week. It was the only nice thing about this situation. He should try to get some sleep. God he missed his sister. And the king and queen and their family too. He could only hope everyone was doing better than he was doing.

Once he woke up, he felt the tension in the air around him. No one was in the basement. It was dead silent. Maarten tried to clear his head, but he was too confused. Everything hurts. But then, suddenly, he heard noises. Someone was coming down the stairs, but they made less noise then the soldiers guarding him. Like they were cautious and on guard. An enemy of the Germans, maybe? Or at least an ally of him? Turned out it was both. 

He looked at the guy coming down the stairs. He had blond hair and blue eyes, but the weird thing was the curl that apparently defied gravity. The guy looked shocked, but then again he just found a guy tied up in the basement. The guy was kind of... pretty. Maarten, not now. The guy rushed to him. “What’s your name?” starting with that question, huh? “Maarten.” The guy lifted Maarten up, he wasn’t quite ready for it and the world started to spin. “Well, nice to meet you. I’m Matthew. Can you walk.” Matthew… nice name. Sounds english. He is totally going to call him Matt in his head. “I don’t think I can make it to the stairs, Let alone walk up the thing.” Matt started to help him towards the stairs. For such a lanky guy, he was surprisingly strong. Then again, Maarten usually had a lot of strength as well. He was just, kind of starving.

Matt called a medic to take a look at him. The medic was incompetent. He clearly wasn’t trained to deal with stubborn patients. Matt was nice enough to bring him food. It wasn’t really helping though. He found that out after the medic tried to stuff three large bowls of… something down his throat. He took the food Matt offered anyway. Matt tried to comfort him, but somehow didn’t figure out he was a country as well. His face when he found out, absolutely amazing. Maarten kind of wanted to express his thanks, but it just didn’t feel necessary. He still thanked Matthew. In the end he kept his expression of gratitude lighthearted. Matt was about to leave, awh. He was nice company. “Will you be back in the morning?”  
“Yea.”  
Oh, that’s nice. He seemed like a funny guy to hang out with.

Matt was a little marshmallow of a soldier.

Damn it, not now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a thing. It's fun to write from Maarten's p.o.v. Because it's just a little more gay. Just a tiny bit. 
> 
> It was hard to find the Dutch version of Shakespeare. But I also discovered that the two guy at the beginning talk about the one guy's dick. So... Yea... That was a thing
> 
> Also, if you don't ship Nedcan...  
> First off, why are you reading this.  
> Second off, do you know history!  
> But i'll get to that, don't even worry
> 
> Again, if you know stuff about Canada, please inform me. And if I make historical mistakes, also inform me please.
> 
> Feedback and comments are appreciated.


	5. If I could give you peace of mind...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter. Are you ready for Maarten questioning his sexuality?  
> Happy reading. :)

Maarten did not expect to have a heart to heart about Spain. And it was the first time anyone but his sister just listened. Most other countries told him to get over it. Matt just… listened. And then Matt started talking, or ranting, about his family. He sounded so upset. Maarten could sort of relate. After all, Ludwig betrayed his sister during WWI and him during this war. But that was part of being a country, of course he didn’t tell Matt. He wasn’t that much of an asshole. 

It was the unfortunate truth. Whatever family you built as countries, is ripped apart by desire. In the end, aren’t they all incredibly selfish. Relationships never work out either. Just look at England and France. The people come first and it can rip you apart. If Maarten could do anything in this wretched system, It was making sure Matthew had something to hold on to. It seemed foolish to try. How long until the next war? Will this one ever end?  
“I just want this to be normal again and for the world to stop being so crazy”  
“Same here, peace sounds nice.”  
Was it even worth to try and beat the odds? Maarten wanted to. It had been a while since he talked emotions with someone. He was going to beat the fucking odds and start something that was good. Let’s hope Matt wanted to join.

The days continued like that, with them sharing stories. Matt was teaching him French, a language that Maarten already knew, but he wasn’t telling Matt. In return, Maarten taught Matt Dutch… Or he tried to. Matt sucked at pronouncing words correctly. And it was fucking adorable. The dude and his army were pretty nice in general. But once they got to the front, they turned into raging lions. It was amazing to watch. Well, as amazing as fighting in a war could get. 

But the fighting was clearly getting to Matt. To be honest, it was getting to him as well. But Matt’s people were dying left and right. And in close proximity to him too. And Maarten did the only thing he could think of. Random bullshit. The clouds. Of course. The square house. Matt’s laugh...... And for just a moment, everything felt alright again.

______________________________I hope you like timeskips___________________________________

He was free. Oh my lord, he was free. He felt really light on the inside. People were partying all around. The shooting happened and it was bad. The shooter was a German soldier, trying to keep his ideal alive. It was dealt with and the next problem arose. The lovers of german soldiers being ridiculed. Maarten tried to just round them up before they got killed for loving the wrong guy.

But after that, he had some time to enjoy the parties. Him and Matt got so drunk. They fell into the river when they were dancing on the railing. Matt just lay in the water laughing and it was very entertaining. Once they were dealing with the hangover, an idea formed. A peace movement, to unite the nations. if it worked, it could fix everything. Maarten was getting way too sentimental for someone who was hungover.  
“Will you join me?”  
“Yes, of course.”  
Let’s break all the rules, just like he once broke statues in the churches.

He was in his home in Amsterdam now. Belgium came to visit. He hugged her and lifted her into the air. It had been too long since he saw her. She smacked him in the head. “What were you thinking, fighting while starving. Do you even know how worried I was. Thank god that Canada came by with some English troops.”  
“You know I had to help. And I would still be starving even if I didn’t fight.”  
Belgium looked super determined now. ”Well, imma cook for you and you are going to eat two helpings, got that?”  
“Ugh fine. Do you know I love you sis?”  
“Of course I know. Now sit down and eat and love you too by the way”  
She made potatoes. They were really good. He had to ask her something though. 

“Hey, I have a problem and I need your help.”  
“Tell me. I’m happy to help my brother.”  
“So Matth… Canada saved me and my people right?”  
His sister pulled a face. “yes, I know. I met him. He went to save you, basicly.”  
“Yes he did, we kind of became friends I think. And it was nice.”  
Belgium smirked at him, crossing her arms. “Sounds like someone likes the guy who saved him. It was high time you dated someone.”  
“We aren’t dating. He saved me and now I feel indebted.”

“You?”  
“Yes.”  
“You, Maarten, the Netherlands?”  
“Yes…”  
“Indebted. To another human being?”  
“YES!” Why was this an issue?

Belgium was smiling now. “Never, in all your life, you felt guilty or indebted to anyone. Excuse me for being a little surprised about that.” Oh, she was enjoying this, wasn’t she.  
“You are the worst.” Maarten pouted, he knew that would make her laugh.  
“Awh, I didn’t want to upset you. It sounds like you already care about him.”  
“I think I do. But then again, we spent days together. That’s how you bond with someone right?” Belgium was doing her sing-y-song voice now. “SouNds LiKE SOmeoNe IS HuMAn AftEr all.” He hated it when she did that.  
“You are so mean. What did I do the deserve this treatment.”  
“Being an asshat, when I wanted my independence. Ya doof.” Ugh, this again.  
“I apologised for that and explained why I did what I did.” They talked this out years ago, but she kept bringing it up to win their petty arguments.  
“So, tell me more about this guy. Pwetty pwease?” Oh god where should he start? 

“Well, I have to admit, he is pretty funny. He keeps his voice completely even and polite, but pulls this face.”  
“I do that too, though.”  
“Me too. Doesn’t make it any less funny though” And now they were doing a weird face contest. Let it be know that Maarten only acts this weird around his siblings. People have to deserve his weirdness. “Okay so, he has a really weird eye colour. And I know we are countries and the status quo doesn’t quite apply to us, but still. His eyes were blue-purple-ish and it just looked nice. And he has a curl like the Italy brothers but downwards.”  
“You are noticing a lot about your not-crush.”  
“Shut up.” Well, Matthew was adorable. And kinda cute. He should stop.  
Belgium put her arm around his shoulder. This would be nice, if she didn’t act like gravity was increasing and pulled them of the chair, to the floor. Damnit Anouk (Belgium’s human name). She liked annoying him. 

“I just… want to repay him okay. He put up with a lot of my bullshit and did a lot of fighting. But even if we spent literal days together, I have no clue what to give him. Or do for him.”  
Anoek looked thoughtful. “Isn’t there something he did, something he said. There’s no way he just wanted nothing.”  
“All I recall is that he wanted a shower, because we were smelly and stinky.”  
Anouk bumped into him. “You always stink.”  
“You are being very nice today, my dear little sister.”  
“You scared me, I thought you were dead.” This. Again.  
“We talked about this already. Can you please focus on the matter at hand. Thank you.”  
Anouk sighed. “To the point, as always. Well let’s see. You have a shit ton of flowers, or had a shit ton of flowers. You could send him a bouquet or something, once your crops and stuff grow again.” Well there’s an idea. Still underwhelming though.

Anouk started to put away the dishes and Maarten started to help her. Then she turned to him. “Have you heard what they have decided for Ludwig and his country?” Oh, shit.  
“No, what happened? Is he okay?”  
“He’s not. They divided his country, and Berlin as well. West for America, East for Russia.”  
“Oh no, I knew this would happen. He did some shit, but still. That must hurt.”  
“Yes, well… Nothing we can do now. The world might forgive him, in the far future.”  
Well this sucked. Maarten did feel a little conflicted. But it wasn’t his business or his problem. He had to make sure to help his people first. And thank Matthew. And make that peace-thing work out.

So Matt had no flowers in his garden huh. Let’s fix that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would that be enough...?
> 
> AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHhhh. ah.  
> I hope you liked Anouk, she is coming back later.  
> Maarten is up to shit. This will become a theme.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments. :D


	6. Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you ready for this. I'm so ready for this.  
> Also, phonecalls are hard to write. Why do I do this to myself?
> 
> Happy reading :)

_________________________(We’re back to Matthew, yeay.)________________________

Work had been tedious. America was off taking parts of Germany, same for Arthur and papa. And everyone else. Matt was lonely. It was weird… being ignored again. He had been surrounded by soldiers, comrades and friends. Maarten had been there. Non stop Twentyfour/seven and he listened. He cheered him up and Matt hoped he returned the favor. He made sure Maarten was okay enough to keep going and took care of him when he wasn’t okay. They made so many memories. And now he was on his own again. He thought about calling Maarten a couple times, but he didn’t do it. Also, he didn’t have Maartens nummer. Damn it. Life goes on and the world was even more insane than ever before, with all the stuff in Germany. The debts, the hurt, the dead. Ugh, he was getting sad again. Just focus on work, for now.

Days went on like that. It was the end of 1945 and life was pretty tiring. Matt was sitting in his ‘study’ when he got a call. “Hello.”  
“Uhm, hello sir. I’m from management, there’s a situation in the harbor.” What situation, what happened. “Is everything alright over there? What happened?”  
“Uhm, no one's hurt. But you should come down here and see for yourself. There’s no way in heaven and hell you’ll believe me, sir”  
“Okay, just hang in there.”

He raced towards the main harbor. It sounded like a serious issue. 

It really wasn’t, but the guy was right. He wouldn’t have believed it if he didn’t see for himself.

There were crates upon crates of fucking flowerbulbs. What? How? WHY?  
“So… how many… flowerbulbs… do we have here?” Matt was almost speechless. Almost. He was so confused he just had to asked these questions.  
“We have about a hundred thousand tulip bulbs here, sir. Although I think it’s exactly a hundred thousand tulip bulbs. We have a bet going on, so we are counting every single one right now, sir.” But that’s like a THOUSAND crates of a HUNDRED bulbs. Time for another question. “Uhm, do we know where they came from. And why they are here instead of… still there.”

“Ah, yes. They got here this morning. The place of origin is the harbor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.” Oh, what? OH, Maarten. Did he… send these?  
“Oh, sir, there was another thing send with these.” The guy handed him a bouquet of red tulips. It was really pretty, with darker and lighter hues. That was a card attached to it. This wrapping was really nice too. See through. Okay, focus on the card matthew, the card, not the wrapping of the tulips. This is what the card read: 

_  
_  
_  
_

“Hello Matthew,

So how are you doing. I wanted to contact you earlier, but stuff got in the way. You know, rebuilding a country.  
You might be wondering what all of this means. Well, it’s a thank you, from me and my royal family. You and your country helped us so much. When Margriet was born, you gave her the ability to have the Dutch nationality. And the fact that you let a Dutch flag be flown in for it. You and you government did so much for us. 

So why these tulips. I’ll admit, I might have overdone it. The queen was certainly very excited for this… thing. She sends her greetings as well. I remembered you mentioned the lack of plant life in your garden. I know I promised to plant them myself, but maybe another time? 

Anyway, these are for you. Plant them wherever you want.

Groetjes van Maarten  
(Greetings from Maarten)

P.s. More flowers on the way.  
note to self, write a different note. This one’s too sappy- “

 

Okay, what the fuck. Matt was kind of flattered, but still. A HUNDRED THOUSAND FLOWERS. Also…. MORE FLOWERS ON THE WAY. The note was nice though. So, Maarten didn’t want to send this one huh. that’s… pretty cute. And the queen was so nice too. 

But, now he had a problem. Where was he going to put all these bulbs. Oh, by now people living around the harbor came by to see what all the fuss was about. People’s reactions differed from person to person. Most people were pretty amused though. Matt didn’t know what to do about it. He was just standing there, looking at these crates. “What am I going to do with these...?” 

“Hey bro. That’s a lot of flowers. Why did you get them?” Oh great. Alfred came to visit now. He can only deal with so much bullshit at once. “I didn’t buy them, they were a gift. One that is now causing a ruckus in my harbor and has nowhere to go.” Someone save him from this madness. Alfred was openly laughing at him now. “Oh, dude. That’s amazing. Who send them?”  
“The Netherlands… and his royal family I guess.”  
“That’s pretty awesome. I don’t know who that is. What are you going to do with them? You should plant them.”  
He could totally do that, right? That might actually be really cool.  
“I mean… I could. They have to go somewhere after all. Thanks Al.”  
“Uhm, anytime?”

Okay, Matthew had some calls to make. One of them to Maarten.

After doing some spy-like searching, he got to Maartens number. Because that’s something he didn’t include in the note, great. So after calling Arthur, who he talked with for an hour before moving on, because it was nice. Arthur directed him to both Maarten’s and Belgium’s nummer. Unfortunately, Maartens number was out of order. So he called Belgium.  
“Hello, This is Anouk or Belgium either one will do. Who is this.”  
“Oh, hello. This is Canada. Uhm, i’m trying to reach Maarten, or the Netherlands. Your brother. But his number is out of order.”  
He heard shuffling of paper. “Oh yes, it changed a while ago. He kept getting spam calls from Prussia. You know Prussia right?” From papa’s history lesson.  
“I never talked to him, or met him at any point in my life.” He could hear Belgium laugh.  
“Oh no, he’s a delight. Maarten doesn’t like him much though. Why did you want to call Maarten? Did he do something?” Yes he did.  
“Uhm, yea he did. He sent me a bouquet of tulips and a nice card.”  
“So he did take my advice. Glad to know he sometimes listens to me.”  
“And a hundred thousand flower bulbs.” There was a pause.

“What?”  
“A thousand grates of a hundred tulip bulbs.”  
“I should be surprised and I am, but at the same time i’m really not.” So… this occurs regularly?  
“Anyway, I wanted to call him and… thank him, I guess…”

After that he got Maartens number. Finally. And now he was waiting for him to pick up. He didn’t.

 

_____________________(back to Maarten, the sneaky bastard)____________________________

It turns out there was a reason for Maarten not picking up. He got a call from Anouk.  
“Hey, my dear sister. Why are you calling?”  
“Okay, so, I have some stuff to tell you. I just got a call from your not-crush.” Oh, god.  
“Stop calling him that…. What did he say?” He could HEAR Anouk’s smirk.  
“He got your old number, somehow, and wanted to get through to your phone. And, thank you.” Why was she doing the thingy with her voice, where she got a suspicious.Anouk continued. “You sent him and his country a hundred thousand tulip bulbs.” Oh.  
“Yes, I did. Your point?” Silence…. Okay?  
“How much…. did that cost…, or how much would you… have made… of those bulbs?”  
Ugh. “Listen, it doesn’t matter. The queen was on board with it. I wanted to thank the guy. He helped my people and he helped me, with moral support.” Anouk was definitely rolling her eyes now. “You really should admit it. You are at least slightly attracted to him.” 

Well, yes. He was a decent guy. But wasn’t attracted a little far. The thing is Maarten never understood the hate towards different ways of love. Like man and man, or woman and woman. But, he only could do so much with his own beliefs. Maarten should be honest, Matt was… adorable and a decent person for personification of a county, compared to some others. And yes, okay fine. Maarten knew he was overdoing it for just a thank you. He wouldn’t do it for Arthur of even Anouk. “Alright, I like him more than most human-ish beings. And I did overdo it. But can you please don’t talk about this. It’s kind of the wrong time period for that.” Anouk sighed.  
“I know, brother. I just wish you could do what you want. Cause I know you’re reasoning everything away in your mind, like always. Anyway, Cana… Matthew , is probably blowing up your phone while we’re talking.” He sometimes forgot he always confided in Anouk. He was happy to have her at his side. “Hey sis… I had this idea for a peace movement. Will you join when it’s ready to go?”  
“Of course I will. Do you even have to ask?”  
“Okay, bye Anouk.”  
“Bye Maarten. Talk to you later.”

As soon as he put the phone down. It started ringing again.  
Well, there was Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might make a lot of people mad, but... I don't ship Prussia and Canada. If that wasn't obvious from this fic.  
> It's just that they never talk in the anime and history wise there's no connection.
> 
> The thing with the flowers did happen. It still happens today. Every year the Dutch government sends ten hundred thousand flowers. 
> 
> If anyone wants to inform me about Cananda, or the Flower festival, Please do.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments


	7. Goodnight my someone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... What happens when you send someone a hundred thousand flowers?  
> They get very confused.
> 
> This confusion may out itself in:  
> \- shouting  
> \- endless questions  
> \- more shouting  
> \- more questions, so fast that you dont have time to answer  
> (how do you spell 'answer'? I'm very confused. And have dyslexia.)
> 
> Happy reading :)

__________________________Back to Matthew, the cutie__________________________________ 

Okay, Matt might or might not have been calling every five minutes. And pacing. And trying to call Belgium to check if he had the right number. She also didn’t pick up.  
“Hello, this is the Netherlands, Maarten here.” Oh no, he actually picked up. What to say.  
“Ah, hey. This is Matthew. So, you are the worst.” Maarten snorted and the snort turned into a laugh. “Oh, what did I do. I sent you flowers, most people think they are nice.”  
“But, A HUNDRED THOUSAND FLOWER BULBS.” He heard Maarten sigh.  
“It’s tulips, not flowers. By the way, a lot of them are red. I remember you mentioning you liked red.” Awh, he actually remembered.  
“That’s… considerate of you. Thank you.”  
“No, it’s supposed to be a thank YOU. Stop being so polite. You probably saved my life, or at least my sanity.” Ah, sanity. That was thrown out the window at this point.  
“Yea, okay. Not insane to send someone A HUNDRED THOUSAND TULIP BULBS.” Matt wasn’t that upset. Everyone loves flowers. He just wanted to poke some fun.  
“I know, I know. I’m a light in the darkness. And you were right though, red is my favorite color. Thanks.”  
“Stop.” Oh right, his thank you. 

“Okay, but anyway. Are you really coming over once?” Maarten was picking up paper, or something. “If you want me to. I mean… I would like to visit you when the world calms down. Unfortunately, that will take a little time. Can we make calling a regular thing?” yes please.  
“Yea sounds great. Hey, I could come over and help. My country is doing alright and we could spent some time together. If you wanted to.” Okay, what was Maarten doing. A lot of shuffling of paper was going on. “Uhm that would be nice, but i’m not the best company when i’m drowning in work. If you are willing to put up with more of my shit, sure. Get over here, I love ranting to someone. But really I suck when I have work.” Ha, Weirdo. ”You seem to forget who I grew up with.” Now it was Maartens turn to laugh.  
“Oh right, I forgot you grew up in the FACE family.” Uhm?  
“The what now?”  
“That’s the nickname other countries used, before the revolutionary war. To sum y'all up.”  
FACE family, that had a nice ring to it, actually. But no one ever called them that to their faces. “So, when can I come over?”  
“How about in six months? Then everything might have calmed down a little. And I might get a little vacation too. Even if you grew up with Arthur, France and America, I can be a bastard when i’m stressed out.”  
“Isn’t it a little long? DON’T say.” Maarten was laughing.  
“Awh, do you miss me? Don’t worry, i’m mostly available on the phone.” He knew Maarten would say that. Ugh.  
“Well, I would like to talk sometimes as well. And I guess i’ll see you in six months.” 

Maarten was clearly doing something while he was on the phone. So, he might as well ask.  
“What are you doing? I can hear a lot of noise.” Maarten stopped moving around.  
“You… are observant. Don’t worry though, I am listening to you. I was just… trying to find the files that I have to hand in. It’s the rough draft for the peace thing. I thought if I start now, the earlier it gets off the ground.” He was actually doing that thing they talked about. So he wasn’t just… emotionally talking about empty promises. ”I just didn’t think you were serious about that.” Now Maarten stopped walking as well.  
“I always, ALWAYS. Uhm sorry, I just. Ugh. If I say something it matters to me.”  
“No, it’s fine. I think I get it. I just think it’s amazing that you’re actually pushing for peace.”  
“Ha, I try. Without war as well. Might not work completely though. Because people are idiots.” 

That is very true, just look at Berlin. The world was being insane. Again. “Well, i’ll leave to your search. And I guess we talk later?”  
“Yup, we will.”  
“Okay well… Goodnight?” Was it evening over there? He should really check.  
“Goodnight, my… friend? Someone? Uhm? I’m confused...” And now Matt was laughing.  
“Yea, bye.” 

Well that was the end of that conversation. It was kind of nice to know that Maarten had no clue what he was doing as well. So time to plant some flowers. He really should call in some help though. 

That took…. forever. You think that with super strength planting a couple tulip bulbs would be easy, but my god. Everything hurts now. It might be true that Matthew never really took care of his garden, but still. AAAAAAHG. Someone put him out of his misery.

______________________time skips……. Are what helps fanfics progress :D_____________________

It was finally time to visit Maarten. Turns out he did get a short vacation… Two days after Matt arrived. So first he had to deal with a stressed out, work mode on, Maarten. That was going to be amazing. He was usually really nice, but seeing someone flip their shit because they stubbed their toe in their panic. That’s just funny. He was packing now… and trying to find his favorite shirt. Now where did he put it. This was annoying, he looked great in the shirt. 

Once he arrived in the Netherland. It was January of 1946 and it was snowing. Don’t misunderstand, Matt was used to cold and snow. Last time it was snowing at well, but it was a lot more… sad. Now he could see kids skating on the lakes and sledding in the snow. He had to go to one of the smaller towns, because Maarten was staying over there. So let’s go on a journey, Through the cold… 

So arriving in one of the smaller towns, he looked at the address and realized that he didn’t know where what street was. shit… So he walked up to a woman to ask for directions.  
“Oh yes. I know that one. Just go…”  
She pointed him to the house… at the end of the street. Another person came up to him.  
“I overheard your conversation and I had to come over. I just wanted to warn you and wish you the best of luck.” Great… This is awesome.

And the door was unlocked, oh boy. He wasn’t ready for the shitstorm that would probably occur. “Maarten are you here somewhere? Are you okay” And… Maarten was passed out on the floor. That was an amazing start to this vacation.

So after getting Maarten to the couch that was in the living room, he went to see if there was any food in the connected kitchen. There wasn’t. Awesome…. Maybe he could ask one of the neighbours. He went to the house on the right. “Excuse me, i’m sorry for bothering you. I’m staying over at my friends house and I just arrived. I’m not from around here and my friend is passed out and there isn’t any food or any drinks in his kitchen.” The woman looked slightly concerned. “That’s not good. Of course i’ll give you food. I can go to the store as well, to get some extra stuff. I bring it, you go back to your friend, okay?” 

After thanking her, Matthew went back to Maartens house. Maarten was awake, but clearly still woozy. So this was the perfect time to get his point across. “You can’t work until you pass out. What would you do if I came by two days later. Really Maarten, I had to ask your neighbour for food. She had the weirdest accent too. Anyway if you have a lot of work at least take time to sleep for an hour or two.” 

“I was sleeping on the floor. Didn’t you notice?” Oh, har har.  
“You don’t get to joke about this, okay? You scared me to death.” Maarten was getting up.  
“You seem really used to this, the speech you just gave me sound rehearsed. I just wanted to get the work done before you got here.” Of course he fucking did. Jesus Maarten.  
“Were you that concerned about how you would be acting? You stupid.”  
“Well i’m sorry. I thought you wanted to have some fun times over here. We can’t do that if I have to work.” Matthew did get it. He saw his dad (Arthur) and papa worked a lot. Arthur more than papa. And he felt pressure as well, but he just hated that Maarten felt like he needed to do this. “We could have had fun after everything calmed down. Because now we are going to eat first. Well, i’m going to cook, you sit on the couch, then we have dinner and AFTER that you are going to sleep. Tomorrow we will watch whatever shitty movie you have or just talk. Once we did all that, we can go and do whatever you had planned.”  
“Ugh, fine. What’s for dinner?”

Once he forcibly got Maarten to his room, he went to the guest room.  
Time to sleep. Good night Maarten. He thought about the phone call they had. Maarten had a funny way of saying goodbye. He probably wanted to say: Goodbye my friend. But after everything even Matthew didn’t know what they were. Friends, two people who needed moral support? So Maarten went with someone….? That is actually a pretty good answer. “Goodnight my someone.”  
“Goodnight.” Clearly the walls were thin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I make myself write phone conversation. It's difficult, because the phisical part is removed from the equation. 
> 
> Also, Maarten is a workaholic. Is anyone suprised by that little fact?   
> Also, if you want to send me idea's for the follow up story, feel free to do so.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments.


	8. For a moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skating, baking and dancing drunkingly together. This chapter has it all.
> 
> Bonding time!
> 
> Happy reading. :)

So after waking up they watched some weird movies. It was nice. The next morning they went skating. There was a park, one Matthew actually passed when he arrived. Families and friends were skating there. And Maarten and Matt were about to join them. Matt packed a pair of skates, they barely fit in his suitcase. They had different kinds of skates. Matthew’s skates were more supportive around the ankles and just… sturdier in general. Maarten skates were more… flexible. So, less support. When he mentioned this to   
maarten, he laughed. “Does this reflect our personality? I mean you were supporting me during war. And I can bend backward.” Pfffft, yea okay.  
“Prove it.” 

And now Maarten was trying to bend backwards, with skates on, on ice. And he fell over. “Auw”   
“How did you think that would have ended? You just set a bad example for all these kids.”  
Maarten was lying on his back and laughing. Matthew went over to help him up. He held his hand out and Maarten grabbed it…. To pull him down as well. 

It was freezing on the ice. “Why did you have to do that? That hurt.” Maarten was smiling.  
“Sorry, it was too tempting. Also, you’re warm.” They were lying next to each other to the ice. Maarten was clinging to him. Eventually Matthew stood up, with some difficulty. He helped Maarten as well, this time for real. That just now felt too cheesy to be true. Heh.

They were skating for a little bit, sometimes together and sometimes separated. Maarten was showing off his tiny spins and his great speed. That guy goes fast. Matthew told him to stop after he almost skated into another child. After a while they went to the side and took their skates off. Maarten went to get them some hot drinks and Matthew went to find a bench to sit on. Once he wiped the snow off the thing he sat down and just looked at the people having fun. Sigh, just a little moment. 

Maarten sat down next to him and handed him coffee. “The hot chocolate was all sold out. That guy was running an amazing business.” The man was bringing in new supplies. Huh.  
“The Dutch stingy magic, right?” Maarten was looking very unimpressed.   
“Yes, because I only work and make profit.” Okay, Maarten. Sure.  
“Says the guy that was passed out on the floor from at least seven allnighters.”  
“It was 27 allnighters thank you very much. I wanted to finish everything before you came over.” This guy… Matthew didn’t know how to respond. He thought they went over this. But Maarten seemed really worried about having fun. 

“You know, next time you are up to you armpits in work during my visit, i’ll just get a room somewhere okay? Please don’t hide your shit from me.” Maarten was just sipping his drink. He didn’t respond, but Matthew knew he made his point. They sat in comfortable silence once again. 

Soon it was dark outside, so they went back to Maartens house. Maarten argued that, first of, Matthew was a guest and second, he cooked yesterday. But Matt didn’t want to eat a shitload of potatoes. So in the end, they had to compromise. They settled for a pancake baking competition. Matt would make his classic pancakes and Maarten would make the version from his country. Maartens pancakes were kind of thin. “Why are they like that.”  
“Because I don’t have to patience to make the shape like you do. Also, the taste is still amazing.” Ah, okay then. 

Well, the kitchen smelled amazing now. And then he found out that Maarten didn’t have maple syrup. ”But, it’s the best thing on pancakes. What do you put on the pancakes instead of maple syrup?” Maarten went to one of the little cupboards.  
“Well, I have some kind of Syrup. We call it stroop. Also powdered sugar.” Maarten put both things on the table.

After that things… got heated. Ha ha. The person with the most pancakes wins. It was now a battle to the death, all niceties gone. And Matthew grew up with Alfred. He learned how to distract someone without truly cheating. That is why he accidentally dropped one of the spare frying pans on Maartens foot. “Awh, auw, kut, shit, AAArg. What the FUCKING HELL dude.” Whoops.   
“I’m sorry, it just slipped from my hands. That was some creative swearing there, my friend.” Maarten was hitting him with a spatula now. “You. Are. Evil. You little shit. Why did you do that?”  
“All's fair in love and pancakes.” Maarten tried not to smile.

The baking match went on as smoothly as a baking competition could go. In the end Maarten made 15 pancakes and Matt made 17. Ah, pancake master. Maarten proposed a nice idea. They would both taste the pancakes the other had baked. But Maarten took the first one on his own baked plate. ”It’s just a little tradition, within the family. You should take one of your own plate as well.” Traditions were alway one of Matt’s favorite. Even if the whole country participated, like with christmas, every household had their own little things. It was nice. “Alright then. Bon appetit.” The rest of the evening was quite nice. Maartens pancakes were surprisingly delicious. And really good with the powdered sugar. 

“If you want to take a shower, it’s the door across from yours.” A shower sounded amazing, because for some reason Matt hadn’t showered in two days. Matthew really liked the house. It was kind of cosy. There was stuff about everywhere on tables and in cupboards, but it didn’t make the place that messy. And Matt really liked the guest room. The bed was on the left. The closet on the right, next a little desk. There was a really cool model of a tiny ship on it and a stack of papers. Matt had been kind of focused on getting Maarten back to health, again. But now he could take a shower and after that do the paperwork he took with him. 

__________________more time skips, because stuff needs to get done____________________

Matt had been staying with Maarten a couple of days now and they were officially friends. If you saw someone naked because you thought the bathroom was free, you can consider yourself friends. When that same person screamed like a girl and hid behind the shower curtain, you are friends. Another example: If a friend was almost killed by a knife you were holding, because you were on a sugarhigh because of the syrup, you are friends. 

If you can dance to a cheesy song, late at night, and not give a fuck about the meaning of all that because you were sooooooo drunk, you are definitely something.

If you complain about hangovers together, you are friends.

They were having breakfast. Everything tasted like shit, but it didn’t help that breakfast in the Netherlands were overly sweet. Matt needed more coffee. Maarten was drinking a was too big mug of it, so Matt stole some. “Hey! Get your own beanjuice.”  
“Did you just call it beanjuice?”  
“Yes.” Matt was too tired for this shit.

Maarten started to wash the dishes. “Oh, I should mention, my sister Anouk wants to have a family dinner. Anouk will be there, obviously. Also my younger brother Louis, Luxemburg. I was wondering if you were up for it. We tends to get a little crazy and out of control.” 

Oh, boy. That was going to be something. Matthew went over some facts in his head. Maarten spoke English, Dutch, German and french (even before Matt’s lesson). So that was four languages. At least. Belgium spoke English on the phone. And he knew her country spoke French and Dutch, so that was three languages. Matt didn’t know Luxemburg, at all. But he probably spoke at least two, because of his siblings. So that was going to be hectic.   
“I think it would be fun, but I wouldn’t want to intrude.” Matt went over to help Maarten with putting away the dishes. Maarten smiled. “No, they’ll be delighted to have you over. You know why?” No, Matt had no clue. “No, why?”  
“Because you’re a delight to be around.” Awh, that was cute. Maarten did a little pose when he said that. “Okay, where and when are we going to have this dinner?”  
“We are going to Anouk’s place and there will be a couple of different foods you can try. It will be fun.”

Okay, so they were doing this. Matt was a little nervous, but it helped that he met Anouk… or Belgium before. And Maarten was there too. And Luxemburg… or Louis was a little child. 

The next day, they went to a train station. The plan was that they would spent one night at Belgium’s house, so Maarten and Matthew took some important things. 

The train ride was alright. Maarten fell asleep, even though it was the middle of the day, so Matt was alone with his thoughts once again. He was really nervous, Family dinners weren’t his forte. They had a couple dinners with Arthur and Francis AND Alfred in the same room, just before Alfred revolted. It alway turned into a shouting match. Not necessarily that bad, but Matthew kind of just sat and ate, being ignored once more. The three of them together just didn’t mix that well. Matt liked dinner with just one of them. Arthur’s burned lasagna, Francis’ Awesome cooking. When he had dinner with Alfred, Matt made his pancakes. That was fun. And the christmas dinners at Arthur’s house with the other colonies were fun as well.

But now he would have a family dinner with people who he barely knew. 

Maarten woke up and turned to him. “Where are we?”  
“On the train.”   
“Oh, ha ha. Very funny. Hey, are you nervous?” Yes, definitely. Really, quite a lot.  
“I mean, yea sure. New people and all that.” Maarten laughed.  
“Anouk already met you and likes you. Louis likes everyone that is my friend. You’ll be fine. Usually Ludw…. Germany would come as well, but he is still in shit from the war. I should warn you though, we kind of shout at each other in multiple languages.” And that was exactly what Matt didn’t want. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll stick with you if you want.” That would be nice. Better than struggling to have a conversation with new people. Last time he met Belgium, he really should start calling her Anouk, the circumstances had been very different. But he could worry about it once they got there. “Is there still time for a nap?”  
“Yes, like… another hour.” So, Matt went to sleep. Just for a moment. 

Maarten shook him awake. “We are here. Let’s go.” Matt got his bag and followed Maarten. He had no idea where to go after all. They walked through a bustling city. “Where are we?”  
“Brussel. My sister lives here… most of the time. It’s a really cool city.” Maarten bumped Matt’s shoulder. “You should tour Europe once, when everything calmed down. And just reflect on everything in peace.” 

While getting away from everything sounded nice, he really wasn’t up for more isolation. People tended to forget about him and his country. So he turned to Maarten. “Can we do that together once? Or with a group of friends or something. Kind of not up for being alone somewhere i’ve never been.”

“Alright, makes sense. But for now we should go to Anouk’s house. Far enough for now, for me.” Matt thought so too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was a thing. Once again. 
> 
> Was Luxemburg ever in the anime or the manga? If so, I missed them. 
> 
> If anyone has info about Canada and the tulip festival, please tell me. If I made historycal, grammatical or spelling errors, please tell me. If anyone know stuff about Luxemburg, also, please tell me.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments.
> 
> Also, Francis in the next chapter... Shit is about to go down.


	9. Two birds on a wire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awkward phone conversations ahead. If you can't handle cringe, be warned. 
> 
> I feel like it's been forever since I started this, even though it only has been a week or two.

Anouk flew at Matthew, giving him a very tight hug. Maarten came up as well. “Anouk, sommig mensen moeten adem halen. (some people need to breathe). Anouk apologized.   
“Excusez moi, i’ve wanted to do that since you helped my brother. You are a freaking hero.”

Matt was kind of speechless. But it didn’t seem to matter, as Anouk ushered them into her house. Maarten and Anouk greeted each other and moved towards the living room. Maarten grabbed Matt’s shoulder and basically pulled Matt with him. Matthew guessed Louis was there as well. He was right. Louis was now attached to Maarten’s leg. Which was impressive, because he was only about half a foot shorter than Maarten. Matthew kind of expected him to be younger, because that’s how Maarten talked about him. Matt bended down to greet him. “Hello, i’m Matthew. What’s your name.” Louis looked up at him and gave him a smile. “Hello, Im Luxemburg, but everyone calls me Louis. Nice to meet you.”   
“Nice to meet you too.” 

Anouk sat Matt down on a… very comfortable couch in the living room. She had gone of to make coffee and tea during their short introduction. Well that was quick. “You are really fast.”   
“No, I had these ready to go for a while now. So perfect drinking temperature. Oh, do you want coffee or tea?”

Matthew took coffee. Maarten as well, but Anouk and Louis took tea. Matthew didn’t quite expect this… instant friendliness. Louis, true to Maartens word, just accepted his presence. He was quiet throughout most of the conversation. But he seemed happy with it. Maarten was talking to Anouk, but stuck to English so Matthew could jump in if he wanted to. Anouk had a lot of questions about Matthew’s country, but even more about Matthew himself. 

These are some of them:  
\- So, how are you?  
\- Why did you join the war?  
\- How did you meet Maarten exactly?  
\- How’s your brother?  
\- Do you have any romantic action going on?  
\- Do you have a boyfriend? 

At that question Maarten almost choked on his coffee. After making sure he was okay, the questions kind of stopped. They just talked about random stuff. Louis started singing a little song under his breath. Then suddenly Anouk started singing as well… Loudly. So now two of the siblings were shout singing and Maarten and Matt were just sitting there, drinking their coffee. “So… what are they singing?” Maarten sighed. 

“Just their national anthems. They do this all the time, so don’t worry about it.”  
“Should we join in?”  
“We totally could.”

And now all four of them were singing of key. It was pretty amazing. And hilarious. So this was normal for the siblings huh. Anouk grabbed his hand and was spinning him in circles now. Louis jumped on Maarten back and they were rushing towards Anouk and Matthew. And now they were on the ground and laughing. 

Maarten stood up again. “Is it alright if I start on dinner, Anouk?” Anouk smiled.   
“Yes please. This gives me some time to question your boyfriend some more.” Wait, what? Maarten’s eye twitched. “Leave him alone Anouk. Come on.” Maarten walked to what Matt assumed was to kitchen. Leaving him alone with the other two siblings. which is what he told Matt he wouldn’t do. But Matthew didn’t really mind. Singing their national anthems was a great icebreaker. So he was kind of alright with the endless questions.

But he did ask them stuff as well. After everyone’s curiosity was satisfied they just told funny stories. Matthew had soooooo much blackmail material on Maarten. And Anouk. Not on Louis, because he was the one providing the blackmail. It was nice, but after a while he got up. “I’m going to see if Maarten needs my help. Is that okay?” Anouk smiled at him.   
“Yes, of course. You are a true gentleman, you know that? If he gives you any trouble, just call me over and I will smack his head with a fork.” That seemed… inefficient.

Walking through the house towards the kitchen, Matthew looked at some black and white pictures on the wall. Some old paintings as well. Some were of just Maarten and his sister, Anouk. The more recent ones featured Louis as well. Underneath the picture there was something written. ‘first picture of all the BeNeLux siblings’. Huh. It was a nice, but formal picture. 

He got to the kitchen. The dining table was there as well. So this was where they were going to eat.

Maarten was murdering a carrot. Matthew sat down on the counter, swinging his legs. “Can I do anything.” Maarten looked over at him.   
“Stop hitting the counter with your feet. And no, not really. I’m making… stamppot. Just… a shitton of potatoes with other vegetables. It’s typical Dutch so you might not like it.”  
“I’m sure it won’t be as bad as Arthur’s attempts to make pancakes.” Maarten seemed very disturbed. ”Ugh no. God no. Those things are bad. But to be fair, Arthur’s baking is amazing.”

Matthew watched as Maarten prepared the food. After a while Anouk and Louis came in. Anouk started to cook as well, while Louis and Matt started making the table. Was it weird that Matt already felt this dinner would be better than the others he had before? Maybe it was just… That the siblings weren’t arguing. Well, they were bickering, but no full on shouting matches. Also it was hilarious to hear four languages at once. Anouk was talking at the top of her lungs in French, Louis was… using a language and Maarten was mixing English and Dutch. 

But the food was about to be overcooked, so it was time to step in. “Alright guys. Stop!” Not that he could do much, because Matthew was cursed with the quietest shouting voice ever. SO INSTEAD he knocked Anouk and Maarten’s heads together. “AUW.” “AUWIE.”  
Maarten looked mad. “Why. The fuck. Would you do that?”  
“You weren’t listening to me. That’s not polite.” Anouk was giving him a scary face.   
“So is smacking heads of people together, meany.”

They didn’t stay mad for too long. Thank god. 

Dinner was special. First there was the thing with an argument over which prayer they were going to say. Next was the special…. taste of the food. The sauce was good though. Also Louis was loudly talking to everyone at the same time. Anouk was trying to keep him in line, but she was also talking a lot. Maarten was silent for most dinner, but looked pretty happy.

It had been a pleasant evening. To be honest Matthew was kind of surprised. It was getting quite late though. But the world wasn’t done with fucking is life up. Anouk was on the phone.  
“Oh, yes. He is here, for a visit. He is a really nice boy, Francis. Do you want to talk to him?” Francis? Oh, great. He hadn’t spoken to papa since he went to the Netherlands instead of fighting in Germany. This was going to be awkward. Anouk waved Matt over.

“Hello… this is Matthew….” He could hear a squeal.   
“Matthieu, my sweet. I did not think I would hear from you in this way. Are you friends with Anouk?”   
“Uhm no I’m not. I was introduced by her brother the Netherlands.” He could hear Francis huff.  
“I also did not know you were friends with Pays- never for dinner- Bas. He is such a sourface. You can do better, my dear Matthieu.” Ugh, this again. Francis was always the overprotective parent. He even refused to let Matt see his own brother. Even so, Matthew could be mad at him. ”Yea, I kind of went over to his country to free and feed his people during the war. We kept in touch and now i’m visiting him. We went to visit Anouk together.”  
“I see, you should be careful though. He can get aggressive.” Sure, Francis. Whatever you say. Matt mutter under his breath. “Not like you and Arthur ever fought and were always peaceful.” Francis went silent for a bit. 

“Excuse me. You have no right to judge how we acted. You don’t know our history.”  
“Uhm, yes I kind of do. I heard you complain, same for Arthur. You two act like little children all the time, completely forgetting about me and Alfred, but mostly me.” Francis was mad now for sure. But Matt was not done yet. “You just left me with Arthur. Don’t get me wrong , he was okay. But it took you years to visit me again! Excuse me for being upset.” Matt knew he got mad a little too quickly, but it was just the same as always. “If you liked Arthur so much, how come he never notices you existance.” Uhm, What the HELL.  
“Well, it’s not like you did much better. You weren’t even calling me, but Anouk. How sad is that.” Hypocrite.

But Francis wasn’t done yet. “So now you are just taking whatever attention you get, huh. Just because they remember your name, doesn’t make them good people.” Oh. Oh. Oh ho. OH. FUCKING. HO. “Insulting me is one thing, I can handel that. Sure, it’s a new low for you, but insulting my friend and his family, one of which is YOUR friend, is the final straw for me.” Francis tried to say something, but he just wasn’t having it. “I will not stand here, letting you insult my someone and just act like it’s nothing.” Francis must have realized his mistake, too late. ”Matthieu, I…”

“No, i’m done. This means a lot to me. THEY mean a lot to me. And that you, someone who means even more to me, would say that. That’s a new level of sad Francis. And i’ve seen Arthur drunk. GOOD DAY TO YOU.”

Matthew gave the phone back to Anouk, who came over to look what he was shouting about. “Are you okay, Matthew. That didn’t sound to happy.” He went way too far. Papa was perfectly happy at the beginning of the call. He just had to ruin that. Shit. “I’m just tired. Is it alright if I go to bed?” Louis came over as well. He tapped Anouk on the shoulder.   
“Sis, we finished cleaning the room. I can show him.” Anouk patted Louis’ shoulder.  
“Alright, Hurry on over there, then. Goodnight Matthew.”

Louis showed him up the stairs to one of the guestrooms. “Here we are. You’ll be sharing it with my brother. I hope that that's okay.” Matt just wanted a bed to sleep in, so anything will do. He went into the bedroom and flopped down on the bed. 

____________________Time for Maarten to fix shit___________________

Maarten had heard the shouting. It sounded like Matt and Francis had some family issues. Even him, Anouk and Louis didn’t get that bad. Sure they had fights, but it was alright. Sadly, he could no longer count Ludwig with the no-problem-sibling group. He just had to start TWO FUCKING WORLD WARS. So yes, Ludwig was on his shit-list for now.   
Anyway, he should go make sure Matt was okay. Walking over the the room they would be sharing he silently cursed Anouk. Of course she would put them together. Since he admitted he liked Matthew more than was socially acceptable, she had been trying to play matchmaker. Typical Anouk.

He got to their shared room. Matt was lying face-first in bed, clothes still on. Sigh….  
Alrighty, let’s try to start and fix this mess that is Matthew right now. “Hey, you have your clothes still on. Come on, go change.” He was shaking Matt gently. Matt didn’t even say anything, just went to the bathroom to change. Maarten raced back downstairs, got the tea Anouk made. She knew Matt might want it. God bless his sister. And went back upstairs. He handed it to Matt, who was done changing now. “Thanks…” He was very quiet.

“You know, I don’t get along with a lot of the countries, well the people representing them anyways. So I think I can understand how it feels to kind of…. mess the few bonds you have up. So hey, drink the tea and know there are at least three people who will be on your side. Got that.” He just hoped that the things he said helped. Matt didn’t look much better, but then again, he just had a bad, BAD fight with his dad. That is sucky. But Maarten had another idea. 

He started to push his bed against Matthew’s. Now Matthew turned around to see what he was doing. Maarten proceeded though. Once he pushed to beds together, he made a little Blanket wall to divide the space. Matthew looked every confused. “What… are you… doing Maarten? I’m not really up for any of your games right now.” Matt looked like a sad puppy. Aw. “No games, I promise. I know you just had a phonecall with the French fry. So… I had a thought. Whenever I want comfort, I like it if someone’s there but not too close. I know, it’s weird. But that’s why I moved the bed and made a small blanket barrier, to respect personal space. So, let’s go to sleep.” Matthew was smiling now. He finished his tea and went to get comfortable in bed. “Thanks, Maarten. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo..... Yea....
> 
> I like conflict that gets resolved, but I have to work on my writing skills for a good conflict. I tried really hard though.  
> Don't worry about Francis. He is not the villain, just a little dense. If you are a France fan, don't worry. He'll come around.  
> It's my headcannon that France and England were married and now divorced. They might just end up back together. :D
> 
> If anyone has information about Canada, the tulips festival or the traditions, please tell me.   
> If anyone has tips on writing, please tell me.  
> If you spotted a grammar mistakes, please tell me.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated and I like comments.


	10. Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred more flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's finish this. 
> 
> To be honest, I had this ready for four days. But I got sick. And spelling checking is a pain in the ass  
> I hope you like the finale of this part of Maarten and Matthew's story.
> 
> Happy reading :)

The next day Matt looked better to Maarten. He probably still lost some sleep, but he was on the way to better. 

The sad thing was that the visit was over. Maarten and Matthew were going back to the Netherlands. He would miss his siblings, but at least they would be calling. On the train, Matt fell asleep almost immediately. Poor guy.

Once back in his home, He went and made lunch for them. Matthew was probably packing his suitcase again. He was leaving tomorrow after all. The phone was ringing now… Ugh.  
“Hallo, Met Maarten.(Hello, this is Maarten.)”   
Turns out it was the queen. She had a genius idea. “My queen, my dear Juliana. You are amazing.” She was going to put the plan in place. This might just cheer Matthew up. 

_____________________Maarten with his schemes. We are going back to Matthew______________________  
Matthew felt terrible. After the fight with Francis he just… felt bad. While the siblings did their best to cheer him up, it didn’t really do much. Anouk made him tea, Louis talked his ears off. Maarten tried to help as well. It was nice to know someone was close, but he still couldn’t sleep. He wanted to ask Maarten for a hug, but decided not to. That wasn’t really…. proper, or something….

He must have fallen asleep on the train, because suddenly they were back in the town. Once they got back to Maarten’s house he went up to pre-pack. Less rush. A phone went off.

It was time for lunch. Matthew was actually happy with the sweet stuff the Dutch put on bread. It did help with his mood. The phone went off again… Wow, Maarten was popular today. He could hear the conversation from the table, as the phone was just outside. 

“Hello. Oh, it’s you. Yes, you made some mistakes. Well, just one. But it was a big one. Why do you never think before you speak. I’m not sure if he even wants to talk. I tried to cheer him up all day, but I know a fight with family is not something you shake off. You should know.” Oh great, Francis called to Maarten’s house. And wanted to talk. Maybe it was best to try and clear stuff up. “Can I talk to him?” Maarten looked concerned. “Yes, but hold on one more moment. Francis, you better think very carefully about what you say. If not, I will skin you.” Maarten could sure be scary. His face looked passive, but his voice… huh. Maarten gave him the phone. “Hello, Matthew here.”  
“Ah, Matthieu. I was trying to reach you, but you already left Anouk’s house. I wanted to apologise. I know this is not going to make what I said right. I just wanted you to know i’m sorry.” 

Matthew wasn’t quite ready for full forgiveness, but he said some bad stuff as well. “It’s not fine, but we can talk this out face to face once. The phone is not the best way to do this. So….. Can we talk later?” Maarten huffed. But Matthew didn’t care. He was still upset as well.  
“Alright. I will speak with you later Matthieu. Have a nice day.” Francis hung up. Well that was the end of that.

“You did good.” Maarten… approved? What? “I’m proud you said what you wanted to say for now. You usually dawdle around a sensitive topic.” Oh right. Maarten liked getting to the point. “This was important. Also, now I might get out of my upsetness bubble.” Maarten patted his shoulder, but pulled him in a hug. “It’s alright, I get it. Don’t feel upset for feeling upset, that’s counter productive.”   
“Thanks.”

It was the end of January, Matthew had been staying with Maarten for while. It had been very pleasant even with the phone calls from Francis. It was the last night he would be staying and they had dinner in a, well, diner. It was quite nice. When they were walking back to Maartens house, Maarten actually grabbed his hand. “Uhm, what are you doing.” Maarten blushed and let go. “Oh sorry, just… a… habit…. You know with Louis, to keep him from running off. He gets excited way too quick.” That might be more believable if Maarten didn’t turn into a tomato. But then again, it must be a little embarrassing. “No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Matthew gave him a smile. Maarten didn’t stop blushing for the rest of the evening. It was pretty amazing.

The next morning, it was officially time to leave for Matthew. Maarten brought him to the harbor, looking a little sad. He also gave him directions on where to go and where he would sleep and stuff.   
“I hope to see you soon. At least keep calling okay? And the captain is a friend of mine, so if there are any issues just go to him.” Maarten hugged him tightly.  
“Got it, i’ll be fine. Can you let go now?” Maarten let him go. It was almost time to board the ship. Matthew was about leave, but Maarten stopped him. Maarten gave him three kisses on the cheek. And now Matthew was the tomato. “Have a save trip.”   
“Thanks, i’ll be fine.”

The ship left the harbor. Matthew spent a little time looking around the ship. It was a cargo ship. He wondered what was on it. Matthew was one of the few passengers alongside the crew. They were a nice bunch. They were happy to talk to him. It was nice. After a bit Matt went to look for the captain. He found him after a little searching. “Hello sir. How are you?”

The captain turned to look at him. “Hello, Matthew right? Maarten told me you would be on this trip. And i’m doing great.” Matthew smiled.  
“It’s very nice to meet you. Can I ask a question? I noticed that we are on a cargo ship. What cargo are we carrying?” The man laughed.  
“You are going to Canada, right. Well, so is this cargo. I got a 20.500 tulip bulbs for Canada. It’s a gift from the Dutch government. Can you believe it. I have to deliver them at around February.” What….?  
“Uhm, do you know why the Netherlands is sending this to Canada?”   
“From what I heard, it was the queen’s idea. She intends for it to become a yearly thing. A thanks for the assistance in the war.” WHAT. THE. FUCK. 

Matthew raced down to the place these tulips were held. He opened the door….

There were so many crates. So many bulbs. So many tulips. What the fuck was he going to do with all these tulips. 

He picked one bulb up. This one had a card attached to it.   
This is what it said:

“Smile Matthew, you have earned your happiness. And you are definitely worth some flowers. 

\- With love,  
Maarten”

…Wow. That was… so nice.  
.Thank you Maarten. Nobody ever tried so hard to make him smile. Can’t say it didn’t work. He just couldn’t stop smiling now, or blushing. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHGGGG!!!!!!!!!! Damn it, he felt really happy. He’s going to get flowers every year. Oh no. He was going to get flowers every year. He was going to plant TEN THOUSAND FLOWERS EVERY YEAR!!!!! No! His back was going to shit! 

And yet…. He couldn’t wait until next year already. This was going to be something amazing.

Sailing back to his home country, with no idea when they would meet in person again. But whatever they had built together…. Surely it could survive some distance.   
Matthew knew how to handle a long distance relationship. Until they meet again.  
He was so, so happy. 

__________________END___________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S DONE!!!!!  
> Well.... this part is. It was a nice challege, to finally kick off my wish of writing something.  
> And I thought it would be nice to start with a rare pair.
> 
> On the three cheeck kisses. It's mostly for greetings only, unless it's a family member you aren't gonna see in a while.   
> At least, that how my family does it. I never know if I have to start left or right...
> 
> I hope ya'll liked it. Please tell me what you thought of it. I already started on the next part, in which we will see their relationship really start to develope. Sooooo... fluff and angst ahead. \
> 
> If anyone could inform me about the canadian tulip festival, please do.  
> I'm also open for suggestions for senario's, headconnon and stuff like that. If you comment I might make something out of it. 
> 
> If you have tips, feedback or just a nice thought, leave a comment. I really like comments.
> 
> Until next time. :D

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is appreciated.
> 
> I already have most of the story ready to go, so don't worry about this fic. I will complete it.  
> I didn't think writing could be so much fun.  
> Can you guys please give me feedback on the dialog and conversations.


End file.
